By: Gavin Schweiger, Follow South Jersey Assistant Editor
VINELAND, NJ — The League of Women Voters (LWV) held an interest meeting on Wednesday, January 14, at Rowan College of South Jersey in Vineland, with the goal of starting a new chapter in Cumberland County.
The over 100-year-old organization is a nationwide non-partisan nonprofit advocacy group that seeks to provide voting information, register voters, and advocate for free democracy.
Advocates in Vineland are looking to expand the LWV to Cumberland County. Part of over 750 leagues in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., South Jersey already has chapters including Camden, Burlington, and Cape May counties.
Nikki Munoz, a Vineland resident, hosted the interest meeting with representatives from the LWV New Jersey. They gave information and discussed the potential path to creating another league in the state.
A group of over fifteen people including some of Munoz’s family members showed up to listen and express their interests around the issues in Vineland. Some expressed concerns around government transparency and lack of votership as key areas to focus on.
The group also tentatively decided to keep the league specific to Cumberland County.
Munoz and Marks were happy with how the meeting went and were excited about the potential.
“I feel like we had a nice turnout, and people were asking great questions and I think that really aligned with our goal,” Munoz said.
Now, Munoz hopes to gather a leadership and membership base to start the league officially.
To start a league, it needs three leaders who run the chapter through chair positions and must be non-partisan, meaning they cannot express their views on parties or political candidates publicly.
It also needs ten members, who pay dues to the LWV and participate in their state or local chapter. Members do not have to be publicly non-partisan.
Activities in the league are either voter-based or advocacy-based. Both types of service are separate to keep the LWV’s non-partisan stance.
Voter services aim to register and inform voters and to increase voter turnouts during elections.
The LWV also advocates for policy change, though they aren’t affiliated with any party or political figure. Issues include government accountability and immigration.
Locally, the group discussed the Vineland data center and homelessness as some of the key issues they would want to address with the league.
Tanisha Gomez, who plans to run for a Cumberland County commissioner seat, left the meeting feeling encouraged. She is particularly interested in helping to increase voter activity, even keeping blank voter registration forms in her car.
“If the conversation comes up and somebody says, ‘I’m not registered,’ [I say] ‘Give me a minute,’” Gomez said, continuing that she would give the person a form and even help them fill it out if they needed.
Kai Munoz, Nikki Munoz’s son, also said the meeting was encouraging.
“It’s good to hear that people are, like, are paying attention and caring about what’s going on,” Kai Munoz said.
Now that the interest meeting is over, the LWV is looking for members interested in the Cumberland County area to make the league official. Interested members can join the LWV online to be in their state league, and with enough people, the organization will reach out to add people into the new chapter.
For Munoz, creating a new local league would be good for the area.
“It would just mean that we have a community of people who are really interested in the same, you know, in democracy, and health, and getting information out to our community,” Munoz said.
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